Mat glanced at the three ways out, holding his ashandarei in sweaty hands. They could not do the same trick as before, bouncing back and forth between the same two rooms. Not with the Aelfinn behind them. He needed to invoke his luck. He prepared to spin, and
"We have to keep moving!" Noal yelled. He had stopped by the doorway, dancing from one toe to the next in anxiety. "Mat! If those snakes catch us . . ."
Mat could hear them behind, hissing. Like the rush of a river. He picked a direction and ran.
"Throw another cylinder!" Thom said.
"That was the last one!" Mat said. "And we've only got three night-flowers." His pack was feeling light.
"Music doesn't work on them," Noal said, throwing aside his drum. "They're too angry."
Mat cursed and lit a nightflower with a striker, then tossed it over his shoulder. The three of them barreled into another room, then continued on directly through the doorway on the other side.
"I don't know what way to go, lad," Thom said. He sounded so winded! "We're lost."
"I've been picking directions at random!" Mat said.
"Only you can't go backward," Thom said. "That's probably the direction the luck wants us to go!"
The nightflower boomed, the explosion echoing through the corridors. It was not nearly as great as that of the cylinders. Mat risked a glance over his shoulder, seeing smoke and sparks fly through the tunnel. The fire slowed the Aelfinn, but soon the more daring members of the band slithered through the smoke.
"Maybe we can negotiate!" Thom panted.
"They look too angry!" Noal said.
"Mat," Thom said, "you mentioned that they knew about your eye. They answered a question about it."
"They told me I'd bloody give up half the light of the world," Mat said, skull still throbbing. "I didn't want to know, but they told me anyway."
"What else did they say?" Thom asked. "Anything that can be a clue? How did you get out last time?"
"They threw me out," Mat said.
He and the others burst into another room no doorway then dashed out the left-hand exit. What Thom had said before was correct. They probably needed to double back. But they could not, not with that nest of vipers following so closely!
"They threw me out of the dootframe in the Aelfinn realm," Mat said, feeling winded. "It leads to the basement of the Stone of Tear."
"Then maybe we can find that!" Thom said. "Your luck, Mat. Have it take us to the Aelfinn realm."
It might work. "All right," he said, closing his eye and spinning about.
Mat pointed in a direction and opened his eye. He was pointing directly toward the gang of Aelfinn, weaving up the corridor toward them.
"Bloody ashes!" Mat cursed, turning and running away from them, picking another corridor at random.
Thom joined him, but was looking very wearied. Mat could take Moiraine from him for a while, but Thom would be so tired he would not be able to fight. The Aelfinn were going to run them ragged, as they had Birgitte centuries ago.
In the next room, Thom stumbled to a halt, drooping, though he still held Moitaine. Like all of the chambers, this one had fout ways out. But the only way that mattered was one directly toward the Aelfinn. The one they couldn't take.
"There's no winning this game," Thom said, panting. "Even if we cheat, there's no winning."
"Thom . . ." Mat said urgently. He handed Thom his ashandarei, then picked up Moiraine. She was so light. A good thing, too, otherwise Thom would never have lasted as long as he had.
Noal glanced at them, then down the corridor. The Aelfinn would be on them in moments. Noal met Mat's eye. "Give me your pack. I need those nightflowers."
"But "
"No arguing!" Noal said. He dashed over and snagged one of the nightflowers. It had a vety short fuse. He lit it and tossed it into the corridor. The Aelfinn were close enough that Mat could hear them scream and hiss as they saw the firework.